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AMUEL  J,  HAYES, 


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SEPTEMBER 


889. 


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HICAG 


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SERMON 


PBEACIIKU   AT 


THE     FUN  ERAL 


SAMUEL  J.  HAYES, 

Superintendent  of  Macliiaery  of  the  Illinois  Central  R.  R., 


SEPTEMBER   2S,  A.   D.   1882, 


THE  REV.  FRANK  M.  BRISTOL, 


PASTOR   OF   THE    WABASH    AVENUE    M.   E.   CHURCH, 


CHICAGO. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST. 


CHICAGO  : 
RA^■D,  McNally   &   Co.,  Printers. 

188'2. 


SERMON. 


"Then  shall    the  dust  return    to    the   earth   as   it  was:    and    the   spirit 
shall  return  unto  God  who  gave  it." — Ecdedastes,  12  :  7. 

Since  the  divine  wisdom  kindled  the  torch  of  inspira- 
tion, tlie  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  has  lost  its  deepest 
gloom.  Since  the  rising  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
above  the  horizon  of  human  history,  we  look  into  the 
future  as  we  look  into  the  eastern  sky  at  morning.  The 
hereafter  is  no  longer  the  undiscovered  country  ;  since 
from  its  bourn  a  Kingly  Traveler  has  returned,  and  bade 
the  human  heart  be  comforted.  His  language  is :  "Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled  :  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in 
me.  In  my  Father' s  house  are  many  mansions  :  if  it  were 
not  so  T  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for 
you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come 
again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself ;  that  where  I  am,  there 
ye  may  be  also."  Again  he  speaks  these  great  and  hope- 
ful words:  "I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.  He  that 
believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live." 
Then  writes  our  Saviour's  greatest  apostle:  "For  we 
know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  And  again:  *'This 
corruptible   must  put   on    incorruption,   and   this   mortal 


must  put    on    immortality."     Tims,    "Life  and  immor- 
tality are  brought  to  light  in  the  Gospel." 
When  the  poet  says, 

"Our  little  life  is  rounded  with  a  sleep," 

he  borrows  the  Bible  figure  of  death,  for  in  speaking  of 
the  death  of  St.  Stephen,  it  says  :  "He  fell  asleep."  '  And 
of  the  early  Christians  who  saw  our  Saviour  after  his  resur- 
rection, it  says:  "Some  are  fallen  asleep."  "They  are 
as  a  sleep,"  says  the  Psalmist ;  and  Paul,  who  wrote  such 
glorious  words  on  immortality  and  the  resurrection,  says : 
' '  I  would  not  have  you  to  be  ignorant,  brethren,  concerning 
them  which  are  asleep,  that  ye  sorrow  not,  even  as  others- 
which  have  no  hope."  Perhaps  as  long  as  men  have  slept, 
and  men  have  died,  death  has  been  likened  unto  sleep. 
But  revelation  adds  to  this  idea  of  sleep  the  more  glo- 
rious idea  of  waking.  Death  is  not  an  eternal  sleep  ;  it  is 
not  an  eternal  midnight ;  it  is  not  eternal  oblivion.  Th& 
sleep  shall  at  last  be  broken  ;  the  night  shall  brighten  intO' 
morning — the  morning  of  the  resurrection.  "For  the  Lord 
himself  shall  descend  from  Heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the 
voice  of  the  Archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God  ;  and  the 
dead  in  Christ  shall  rise."  For  "  now  is  Christ  risen  from 
the  dead  and  become  the  firsc  fruits  of  them  that  slept." 
But  again,  this  idea  of  sleep  attaches  only  to  the  body.  It 
is  not  spoken  of  the  mind — the  spiritual,  immaterial  and 
immortal  nature.  'It  is  the  body  alone  that  becomes  weary 
— that  is  subject  to  accident,  pain,  age,  disease,  death,  and 
dissolution.  "  There  is  a  spirit  in  man  "  essentially  unlike 
the  body,  bearing  in  its  intellectuality  and  moral  character 
the  image  of  divinity.  The  mortal  body  and  this  immor- 
tal mind  are  united  in  a  beautiful  and  holy  companionship 


for  an  allotted  time,  which  we  call  our  earthly  life.  Death 
is  but  the  event  of  their  separation— the  falling  of  the 
earthly  back  to  earth  ;  the  fliglit  of  the  heavenly  toward 
Heaven.  The  body  falls  into  the  semblance  of  a  quiet 
slumber  ;  the  spirit  returns  to  God,  as  one  that  has  been  on 
a  mission  returns  to  the  master  which  sent  him. 

Death  does  not  wrap  the  mind  in  slumber.  Sleep  can 
never  seal  the  eye  of  thought,  nor  quench  the  flame  of  hope 
and  love.  Disease  can  never  paralyze  the  soul,  nor  death 
enchain,  nor  the  grave  imprison,  the  spirit  that  is  winged 
with  immortality. 

"The  spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who  gave  it."  This 
earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle  dissolves,  but  "we  fly 
away"  to  that  "building  of  God,"  that  "house  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

Our  bodies  are  our  property,  but  they  are  not  ourselves. 
They  belong  to  our  souls  as  our  garments  to  our  bodies, 
and  as  our  dwellings  belong  to  us.  But  they  may  wear  out 
like  a  garment,  they  may  crumble  like  a  beautiful  palace, 
while  we — the  mind  and  soul  which  we  call  ourselves — 
may  live  on  uninjured  by  the  accidents  of  time.  The 
spirit  is  only  disenthralled  at  death,  liberated  from  the 
dust  to  fly  away  to  God,  like  the  eagle  soaring  out  of  the 
entangling  snare,  toward  the  mountains  and  the  sun. 

As  we  sailed  toward  the  sea  one  day,  the  pilot  boat  re- 
mained a  close  companion  of  our  noble  ship,  but  when  we 
reached  the  full  swell  of  the  grand  old  ocean,  we  parted 
company  with  the  little  boat,  and,  with  white  sails 
spread,  our  goodly  vessel  began  her  pleasant  voyage. 
This  life  is  but  reaching  the  sea  of  our  boundless  exist- 
ence ;   and  though  for  a  period  this  mortal  body  serves  us 


6 

.as  we  pass  down  tlie  narrow  stream  of  time,  yet,  when  we 
reach  the  wide,  full  ocean  of  eternity,  we  no  longer  need 
its  services,  but  sweep  on  toward  our  happy  and  holy 
destiny,  leaving  it  and  earth  behind.  A  diamond  flashing^ 
with  its  splendor  in  a  velvet  casket  is  given  to  the  King; 
he  sets  the  burning  jewel  in  his  royal  diadem,  but  throws 
the  casket  down  ;  and  thus  it  is  that  the  dust  shall  return 
to  the  earth,  and  the  spirit  shall  return  to  God — return  to 
shine  in  the  crown  of  God's  glory,  with  the  splendor  of  its 
own  immortality.  Life,  is  climbing  the  difficult  steps  of 
the  palace.  Death,  is  entering  in.  But,  at  the  door,  the 
spirit  leaves  the  rude  mantle,  and  the  dusty  sandals  of 
mortality.  Life  is  humanity's  moral  and  spiritual  ap- 
prenticeship. Death  is  the  good  man's  promotion.  His 
true  career  can  only  begin  after  he  has  "served  his  time." 
Life  is  but  serving  one's  time  under  the  Master  Machinist 
of  the  universe.  Death  is  the  divine  voice,  saying,  "It  is 
enough  :  come  up  higher." 

The  good  man' s  destiny  is  one  of  progress  in  knowledge 
and  character,  in  intellectual  and  moral  effort  and  achieve- 
ment. When  we  survey  the  progressive  history  of  the 
human  mind  in  this  earthly  life,  our  anticipations  for 
future  development  are  unbounded.  If  tliis  life  and  its 
environment  present  such  intricate  problems  for  study  and 
solution,  such  exhaustless  fields  for  investigation  and  dis- 
covery, such  inspirations  to  talent,  genius,  and  the  noble 
spirit  of  industr}^,  what  opportunities,  what  possibilities 
transcending  any  which  the  world  affords,  may  not  await 
the  human  mind  when  liberated  from  the  hampering- 
conditions  of  mortality !  What  wondrous  truths  are  yet 
to  unveil  their  splendors  to  the  burning  eye   of  human 


thought!  Wliat  realms  of  knowledge  are  yet  to  open 
their  golden  gates  to  the  investigations  of  kingly  reason  I 
What  are  all  our  discoveries,  experiments,  inventions  and 
enterprises  of  industry  !  Wliat  are  all  our  moral  attain- 
ments, all  our  acquirements  of  truth  and  love,  heroism, 
magnanimity  and  true  manliness — what  are  all  these 
earthly  possibilities  and  achievements  to  the  "Glory  which 
is  to  be  revealed  in  us"  !  If  the  pendulum  of  the  mind's 
activity  and  development  describes  so  great  an  arc  in  its 
earthly,  dust-imprisoned  career,  what  a  magnificent  sweep 
may  it  not  attain  amid  the  full  liberty  and  undimmed  light 
of  a  sinless  eternity ! 

It  is  with  such  thoughts  as  these  that  we  come  to 
bid  farewell  to  a  familiar  and  honored  form  ;  a  kindly, 
noble  face  from  which  a  manly  spirit  has  fled  and  the 
light  of  life  has  gone. 

Our  message  is  to  the  living,  for  all  our  blame  or  praise 
can  neither  hurt  nor  benefit  the  dead.  Not  by  what  we 
can  say,  but  by  what  the  good  Book  hath  revealed,  we 
hope  that  these  troubled  hearts  may  be  comforted.  In 
such  an  hour  as  this  it  were  cruelty  and  mockery  for  one  to 
attempt  to  console  the  fatherless  and  widow  by  mere  shal- 
low words  of  tinseled  rhetoric.  To  close  the  Bible  and 
point  to  human  philosophies,  when  bereavement  seeks  for 
consolation's  kindly  light,  is  to  draw  a  cloud  over  the  face 
of  the  stars  that  shine  to  break  the  midnight  gloom.  I 
would  not  have  you  stand  and  simply  look  into  the  cheer- 
less tomb  that  this  hour  is  opening,  but  I  would  have  you 
look  toward  the  past  and  the  future,  and  be  comforted  ; 
for  there  is  a  consolation  coming  to  us  out  of  a  good  man's 


8 

life  and  out  of  a  good  man's  destiny,  wliicli  does  not,  can 
not  come  out  of  the  tomb. 

I  wish  that  lips  more  eloquent  and  worthy  might  here 
to-day  tell  the  story  of  the  good  man's  life.  This  is  the 
simple  story  unadorned.  Our  departed  friend  and  brother, 
Samuel  Jakvis  Hayes,  was  born  near  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land, Oct.  9th,  1816.  When  he  was  but  four  years 
old  his  father  died.  At  the  early  age  of  six  he  went  to 
work  in  a  cotton  mill  near  Baltimore,.  At  seventeen  he 
went  to  work  for  the  famous  locomotive  builder;  Ross 
Winans,  of  Baltimore,  in  the  very  infancy  of  railroading 
He  began  work  at  this  time  as  apprentice  to  the  machinist 
trade.  Shortly  after,  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Com- 
pany took  the  shops  of  Winans,  and  Mr.  Hayes  continued 
his  apprenticeship  until  of  age.  He  was  soon  appointed 
Gang  Foreman  in  the  machine  shops  of  the  Baltimore  & 
Ohio  Railroad  Company.  A  little  later  he  was  promoted 
to  Foreman  of  the  engine  house,  then  to  General  Foreman 
of  the  shops.  Not  long  after,  he  became  Master  Machinist 
of  the  Mt.  Clare  shops  near  Baltimore,  and  then  Master  of 
Machinery  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company. 
This  position  he  held  for  five  years,  but  at  the  end  of  that 
time,  in  1856,  he  resigned  to  come  West  and  enter  the 
service  of  the  Hlinois  Central  Railroad  Company  as  Super- 
intendent of  Machinery.  This  position  he  entered  the  SOth 
of  August,  1856,  and  continued  to  fill  until  his  death,  or, 
during  twenty-six  years.  In  1839  Mr.  Hayes  was  married  to 
Miss  Martha  E.  Johnston,  of  Baltimore,  who  for  forty-three 
years  has  been  a  sharer  of  his  noble  ambitions  and  a  help- 
meet consecrated  to  his  happiness  and  success  in  life.  His 
dying  pillow  was  softened  by  her  tender  care,  and  his  last 


9 

assuring  words  will  linger  like  a  perfume  in  her  memory 
until  she  hears  his  welcome  greeting  on  the  other  shore. 

Mr.  Hayes  was  a  self-made  man,  and  a  well-made  man- 
Compelled  to  begin  his  life  struggle  at  the  early  age  of  six, 
he  had  no  school  advantages  ;  yet,  possessed  of  great  nat- 
ural vigor  of  mind,  he  acquired  a  good  store  of  general 
knowledge,  became  a  keen  observer,  a  student  of  pass- 
ing questions  and  events,  an  inquiring,  progressive  man,  a 
fine  judge  of  men  and  character.  He  had  the  faculty  of 
picking  out  boys  and  young  men  who  had  pi-omise  and 
hidden  possibilities  of  power  in  them,  and  interesting 
himself  in  their  welfare  and  progress,  taking  pride  and 
pleasure  in  their  development,  promotion  and  success.  As 
a  consequence,  a  number  of  the  boys  that  came  to  him 
years  ago  have  risen  to  high  and  responsible  positions, 
where  they  still  bear  the  impress  of  his  commanding  and 
vigorous  character.  The  present  General  Superintendent  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  said  in  my  presence 
with  a  manly  gratitude,  "My  proudest  thought  is,  that 
when  but  a  boy  thirteen  years  old  the  first  work  that  I  did 
was  for  Samuel  J.  Hayes."  The  Master  Mechanic  of  the 
Chicago  Division  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
in  charge  of  one-half  the  rolling  stock  of  that  great  road, 
was  Mr.  Hayes'  first  apprentice ;  and  many  other  positions 
might  be  mentioned  as  being  tilled  with  able  men  who  did 
their  first  work  as  boys  for  our  departed  friend  ;  and  these 
men  will  never  cease  to  cherish  the  name  and  memory  of 
their  benefactor.  Many  a  man  has  said  this  da}',  '"I  have 
lost  my  best  friend." 

Mr.  Hayes  occupied  a  front  rank  among  the  lailroad 
machinists  of  this  country,  and  in  railroad  circles  had  a 


10 

national  repntation.  His  opinions  were  sought  for,  his 
judgment  was  relied  upon,  his  force  of  character  was 
admired,  his  manliness  acknowledged  and  praised,  and  the 
place  he  has  left  vacant  will  not  easily  be  filled. 

He  was  a  leading  member  of  the  "American  Master  Me- 
chanics' Association,"  of  which  he  was  Treasurer  from  the 
time  it  was  founded  to  his  death.  He  was  wealthy  in  the 
confidence  of  his  associates,  as  he  was  strong  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  uprightness,  and  unselfishness  of 
purpose.  When  he  came  to  his  responsible  position  in  the 
West  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  owned  seven 
hundred  miles  of  road  in  Illinois.  It  now  has  nearly  two 
thousand  miles  in  the  States  of  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Louisiana,  and  Mississippi.  Mr.  Hayes  had 
under  his  charge  thirteen  hundred  miles  of  this  extensive 
road,  and  had  he  lived,  by  January^,  would  doubtless  have 
had  the  charge  of  the  entire  road,  as  Superintendent  of 
Machinery.  Then  his  influence  would  have  been  felt,  if  it 
was  not  already,  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  and  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  He  superintended  the  industrial  operations 
of  eighteen  hundred  men,  and  in  his  dealings  with,  and 
management  of  them,  he  was  a  just,  but  kindly  man,  firm 
and  determined,  fearless  and  uncompromising,  yet  gentle 
and  sympathetic,  when  occasion  called  for  the  exercise  of 
these  noble  virtues.  He  was  a  masterly  disciplinarian,  but 
always  leaned  toward  the  men  in  matters  of  discipline  when- 
ever in  doubt.  He  was  slow  to  judge,  thorough  and  just  in 
his  investigations,  determined  always  that  no  man  should 
wrong  the  road,  and  that  the  road  should  wrong  no  man. 
Mr.  Hayes  was  remarkable  for  the  strength  and  vigor  of  his 
mind  to  the  last  moment  of  life,   and  until  within  a  few 


11 

months  liiid  preserved  a  niagniticeiit  physical  form  and 
constitution.  He  was  grave,  tlioughtful  and  lionest  in 
mind  and  heart ;  dignified,  commanding  and  soldierly  in 
bearing.  His  life  was  one  of  industry  and  peace;  the  style 
and  force  of  genius  by  which  others  have  led  men  to 
slaughter  and  to  martial  glory  he  possessed  in  large  meas- 
ure, but  used  for  ends  of  industry,  peace,  wealth,  general 
prosperity  and  the  public  accommodation.  For  I  take  it 
that  in  his  position,  handling  such  responsible  and  impor- 
tant interests,  controlling  so  many  noble  sons  of  honest, 
wealth-producing  industry,  there  was  demanded  no  less  a 
genius  than  that  of  a  great  general,  a  commander  of  ainiies. 
A  hero  of  toil,  a  general,  controlling  the  movements  of  large 
numbers  of  wealth-pioducers,  holding  a  commanding  ])0si- 
tion  in  one  of  the  nation's  most  important  industries,  is 
more  worthy  to  be  immortalized  by  the  historian's  golden 
pen  and  the  poet's  thrilling  verse,  than  the  warrior  who 
writes  his  name  in  crimson  letters  on  the  sod. 

"For  blessed  that  child  of  humanity,  happiest  man  among  men, 

Who,  with  hammer  or  chisel  or  pencil,  with  rudder  or  plowshare  or  pen, 

Laboreth  ever  and  ever  witli  hope  through  the  morning  of  life, 

"Winning  home  and  its  darling  divinities— love-worsliiped  children  and  wife. 

Round  swings  the  hammer  of  industry,  quickly  the  sharp  cliisel  rings, 

And  the  heart  of  the  toiler  has  throbbiugs  that  stir  not  the  bosom  of  kings; 

He  the  true  ruler  and  conqueror,  he  the  true  king  of  his  race, 

Who  nerveth  his  arm  for  life's  combar,  and  looks  the  strong  world  in  the  face.'' 

Our  brother  worked  up  to  the  last  moment  of  his 
strength.  There  was  no  waste  to  his  life,  no  lost  time  can 
be  entered  against  him  ;  few  men  put  in  so  many  years  of 
work.  He  filled  up  sixty  round  years  of  toil — from  the  age 
of  six  to  sixty-six — and  by  his  industr}'.  genius  and  in- 
tegrit}^  rose  to  the  high  position  which  he^^filled  with  such 
remarkable  ability  for  twenty-six   years.     His  place  will 


12 

long  be  vacant.     A  man  lives  well  whose  place  it  is  hard 
to  fill. 

Many  successfal  and  prominent  men  in  railroading,  this 
day  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed  for  his  life-long  help  and 
kindness.  It  is  a  noble  soul  that  gives  to  other  souls  an 
impetus  and  inspiration,  and  opens  before  ambitious  worthy 
youth  the  gates  that  lead  to  prosperity  and  success.  Mr. 
Hayes  has  left  behind  him  a  record  in  the  simple  annals  of 
Industrial  enterprise  and  generalship,  which  any  man  might 
well  be  proud  to  imitate.  He  has  left  behind  him  a  noble 
generation  of  workmen  who  came  to  responsible  positions 
through  his  help,  and  his  associates  will  long  take  pride  in 
emulating  his  deeds,  and  bearing  in  their  work  and  charac- 
ters the  impress  of  his  influence. 

"  AqcI  thus  when  a  good  man'dies, 
For  years  beyond  his  ken, 
The  light  he  leaves  behind  him  lies 
Upon  the  paths  of  men." 

A  thousand  men,  associated  with  Mr.  Hayes  in  the  gi^eat 
railroad  company  of  which  he  was  so  excellent  and  valu- 
able an  officer,  lay  upon  his  honored  bier  this  '^eloquent 
tribute,  more  beautiful  than  the  flowers,  more  impressive 
and  satisfactory  than  funeral  pomp : 

"Whereas,  We  are  called  on  at  this  time  to  pay  the  last  tokens  of  re- 
spect to  our  departed  leader,  we  desire  not  only  to  honor  him  by  our  attend- 
ance at  the  services  by  which  we  shall  commit  his  body  to  the  ground,  but 
by  placing  upon  record  some  tribute  of  our  hearts  to  his  memory,  to  ex- 
press our  high  esteem  for  his  character  as  an  officer,  a  man,  and  a  friend. 
To  many  of  us  he  has  been,  for  years,  not  merely  an  honored  officer  but  a 
personal  friend.  He  has  sympathized  with  us  in  times  of  trouble;  he  has 
shared  our  joys;  he  has  aided  us  by  liis  wise  counsels.  We  have  lost  a  friend, 
a  brother,  a  father.  Others  of  us  have  not  known  the  ties  of  personal  friend- 
ship ;   but  we  have  recognized  and  admired  Ihe  professional  ability,  the  in- 


13 

tegrity  of  character,  the  devotion  to  duty,  and  the  desire  to  do  right,  whicli 
have  characterized  his  life.  In  this  last  public  tribute  of  respect  and  affection 
we  all  sorrowfully  unite  ;  but  the  departed  one  is  not  dead  to  us  in  recollec- 
tion; the  unfailing  memory  of  his  virtues  will  ever  remain  cherished  in  our 
hearts. 

"To  his  widow,  with  whom  he  lias  shared  joy  and  sorrow  lor  so  many 
years,  who  knew  him  better  than  any  of  us,  and  so  loved  him  more  ;  and  to 
the  surviving  members  of  his  family,  we  respectfully  tender  our  sympathy  in 
their  deep  affliction.  We  can  not  remove  their  ,i,^rief,  but  we  may  attempt 
to  share  it  with  them." 

For  nearly  hali:  a  century  Brother  Hayes  has  been  an 
acceptable  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  for  twen- 
ty-six years  has  been  connected  with  the  Wabash  Avenue 
Church  of  Chicago.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  soul's 
immortality,  a  sincere  and  profound  student  of  the  Bible, 
whose  sacred  pages,  like  this  floral  tribute,  blossomed 
before  his  eyes  into  truth's  immortal  beauty.  With  a 
strong,  unshaken  faith  he  looked  to  Jesus  Christ  for  his 
eternal  salvation.  After  the  thought  and  toils  of  a  busy 
week  he  was  found  on  the  Sabbath  in  the  house  of 
worship,  a  most  respectful  listener,  a  devout  communi- 
cant at  this  altar,  where  often  I  have  handed  to  him 
those  sacred  emblems  of  our  Lord's  suffering,  which 
he  ever  took  with  reverence  and  in  the  assurance  of 
faith.  He  had  his  mental  conflicts,  like  every  thoughtful 
man,  and  if  his  struggle  against  the  errors  and  doubts  of 
the  times  was  not  always  successful  at  the  moment,  j^et  he 
never  became  a  trifler;  he  was  too  well  poised,  too  sincere  a 
thinker,  too  manly  and  modest,  to  sneer  at  the  opinions  of 
others,  or  reject  what  he  could  not  always  comprehend. 
This  honesty  of  thought,  thoroughness  of  investigation, 
patient  and  persevering  study  of  the  Bible  ;  this  attitude  of 
openness  to  all  truth,  led  him  at  last  to  the  solid  rock  upon 


14 

which  his  feet  were  planted,  with  a  grand  unshaken  con- 
viction that  what  the  Bible  says,  God  says,  and  what  God 
says  is  eternal  truth.  Here  the  sky  grew  clear  above  him, 
and  here  he  stood  a  conqueror  in  the  hour  of  death. 

It  is  not  ray  mission  to  hurt  the  memory  of  any  man 
by  insincere  and  fulsome  eulogy.  And  Brother  Hayes 
would  have  been  the  last  to  sanction  any  such  unworthy 
encomium  of  himself.  Nor,  again,  is  it  my  mission  t,o  hunt 
for  the  motes  in  any  brother's  e3^e.  A  'perfect  man  I  have 
not  called  our  brother.  Nor  have  I  ever  had  the  confidence 
to  use  that  word  "perfection"  in  connection  with  the  intel- 
lectual, moral,  physical  or  spiritual  life  of  any  fellow-man. 
Faults  he  had,  as  you  and  I  have  faults,  but  so  many  and 
so  noble  were  his  virtues  that  in  our  minds  to-day  they 
crowd  out  forever  the  memory  of  his  mistakes.  How  few 
full  measures  of  wheat  there  are  that  have  so  little  chaff ! 
How  seldom  is  the  gold  so  free  from  dross  !  Samuel  J. 
Hayes  was  a  strong  and  faithful  man,  an  able  and  most 
competent  officer,  an  upright  and  honored  citizen,  a  brother 
to  the  suffering,  a  generous  and  fatherly  benefactor  to 
those  who  were  worthy,  and  ambitious  of  success  in  life. 
Poverty  never  appealed  to  his  benevolence  in  vain.  Sorrow 
never  found  his  sympathy  and  generosity  deaf  to  its 
pathos.  Every  good  cause,  and  every  good  man  found  in 
him  a  friend ;  and  wherever  he  was  known,  and  justly 
appreciated, 

"  He  bore  without  abuse 
The  grand  old  name  of  gentleman." 

But  why  should  my  lips  praise  him  %  This  audience 
is  his  eulogy.  And  why  write  his  epitaph  on  marble 
when  it  is  so  deeply  engraven  on  the  memories  of  many 
s:ratef ul  men  ? 


15 

If  there  is  a  holy  consolation  for  such  an  hour  as  this, 
coming  to  us  out  of  a  busy,  useful,  unselhsh  and  success- 
ful life  of  ov^er  threescore  years,  there  comes  a  greater 
consolation  from  the  prospect  of  the  eternal  years.  The 
good  man  fell  asleep,  blessing  with  uplifted  hands  the 
friends  that  gathered  about  his  couch  ;  and  when  his  wife, 
holding  bis  hand,  asked  him  if  he  realized  that  he  was 
passing  awa}^  with  a  firm,  strong  voice  he  answered, 
"Why,  certainly"  !  And  when  she  asked  it  he  felt  ready 
and  prepared  to  die,  again  he  said,  "  Why,  certainl3^" 
"  God's  finger  touched  him,  and  he  slept." 

His  faith  had  grown  to  certainty,  his  hope  to  glorious 
knowledge.  And  ere  the  morning  hours  were  passed,  his 
weakness  had  become  eternal  strength,  his  age  was  youth 
immortal.    And  should  we  grieve  for  him  whose  wearj^  feet 

"  Press  the  cool  smoothness  of  the  golden  street",? 

Should  we  grieve  for  the  storm-tossed  barque  that  has 
entered  the  quiet  haven,   and  touched  the  shores  of  rest  ? 

Should  we  grieve  that  the  Angel  reapers  have  garnered 
the  fully  ripened  shock  ?  Should  we  grieve  that  the  good 
fight  has  been  nobly  fought,  and  the  brow  of  the  victor 
crowned  with  light? 

In  this  dark  hour  do  not  the  sweet  stars  of  hope  shine 
in  upon  the  troubled  hearts  of  the  widow,  and  of  the 
daughter  bereft  ?  Look  back,  dear  stricken  ones,  along 
the  busy,  pleasant  years  of  3^our  companionship  with  your 
noble  dead,  and  still  let  gratitude  have  a  place  in  3^our 
hearts.  Look  into  the  Bible  he  loved  so  well,  and  studied 
so  diligently,  and  therein  find  the  promises  of  your  God 
and  Saviour,  crowning  the  grave  with  resurrection  glory, 


16 

and  spaaning  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  with  the 
bright  bow  of  the  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality. 

Have  faith  in  God,  lean  hard  upon  the  burden-bearing 
Saviour,  look  out  toward  the  resurrection  morning. 

Pillow  your  aching  heads  upon  the  divine  promises,  and 
"sorrow  not,  even  as  others  which  have  no  hope." 

"How  shalt  thou  bear  the  cross  that3now 
So  dread  a  weight  appears  ? 
Keep  quietly  to  God,  and  think 
Upon  the  eternal  years. 

Austerity  is  little  help, 
Although  it  somewhat  cheers  : 
Thine  oil  of  gladness  is  the  thought 
Of  the  eternal  years. 

Bear  gently,  suffer  like  a  child, 
Nor  be  ashamed  of  tears; 
Kiss  the  sweet  cross,  and  in  thy  heart 
Sing  of  the  eternal  years. 

Death  will  have  rainbows  round  it,  seen 
Through  calm  Submission's  tears. 
If  tranquil  Hope  but  trims  her  lamp 
At  the  eternal  years. " 

May  the  healing  balm  of  the  divine  consolation  bind  up 
these  sore  and  bruised  hearts,  and  in  the  strength  of  God's 
sweet  grace  may  the  widowed  and  the  fatherless  in  grati- 
tude and  in  hope  exclaim  :  "  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away  ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

And  when,  my  brothers,  and  hearers,  our  last  day  of 
earthly  toil  and  struggle  shall  have  dawned,  when  the 
solemn  hour  of  death  advances,  when  the  eye  grows  dim 
to  mortal  scenes,  and  eternity  lifts  up  her  gates,  may  life's 
mission  have  been  grandly  done  ;  and  when  they  ask,  are 
we  prepared  to  die,  with  faith  in  Christ,  and  holy  confi- 
dence, may  our  firm  answer  be  :  "  Why,  certainly ;  wTiyy 
certainly  P 


HE 


